Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1509432
N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 3 5 7 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M P enn State picked up the earliest football commitment in school his- tory on Aug. 19 when running back Messiah Mickens of Trinity High in Har- risburg, Pa., became the first prospect to join the team's 2026 recruiting class. Be- fore Mickens announced his decision, no player had ever committed to the Nittany Lions before the start of his sophomore season. The 5-foot-10, 195-pound Mickens has already been rated a four-star prospect by On3's scouts and has received a similar grade in the On3 Industry Ranking, which pools the evaluations from the four major online recruiting services. In the first five games of the 2023 sea- son, Mickens totaled more than 700 all- purpose yards. He had carried 60 times for 679 yards and 9 touchdowns, while adding 87 receiving yards, including a pair of scores. Trinity head coach Jordan Hill, a former Penn State defensive lineman, described Mickens as "a natural football player." "It's cliché, but he just knows how to run the football," Hill said. "His vision for his age is some of the best I've seen. He's consistently able to set up what he's about to do next and really read the field. "To me, it's already college-level. It's impressive. He's also a bigger back for as young as he is, and he still ran a 4.51 [40- yard dash] at Penn State this summer." Mickens is nearly three years away from donning a college uniform, but he's re- ceived offers from some of the top pro- grams in the country, including Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama and Tennessee, among others. In September, BWI paid a visit to Trin- ity to learn more about his decision and what's next for one of the nation's top sophomores. BWI: Let's start with the obvious question — why did you decide to com- mit now? You have some great offers and two more years of high school foot- ball still ahead of you after the 2023 sea- son. Why did you choose Penn State so early? MESSIAH MICKENS: Because I al- ready knew it was time. When I went and traveled across the country, I felt like everything was the same. They're all great coaches. They're all great facili- ties. Nothing really stood out to me. Penn State was always the school I really liked, WHEN YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW 2026 running back Messiah Mickens saw no reason to delay his verbal commitment I N T E R V I E W M E S S I A H M I C K E N S RYA N S N Y D E R | R Y A N . S N Y D E R @ O N 3 . C O M Mickens had received offers from the likes of Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan and Tennessee, but he chose to commit to Penn State in August, more than two years ahead of signing day for the 2026 recruiting class. PHOTO BY RYAN SNYDER